BY COLORADO
PUBLIC RADIO STAFF NOV 21, 2018
Aurora,
the 22-year-old gyrfalcon mascot of the Air Force Academy, will be back in
action this Thursday after recovering from injuries sustained when a student
prank went wrong earlier this month.
Air Force
football will take on Colorado State University Thanksgiving Day at 1:30
p.m. in Colorado Springs, and Aurora will be there to greet fans.
“She
likes getting her picture taken with a bunch of people,” said Joseph Kloc, an
Air Force senior and member of the elite falconry club. “She's a little bit of
a diva.”
Aurora
also made an appearance at Air Force’s game against New Mexico on Nov. 10, Kloc
said, but didn’t travel to the University of Wyoming in Laramie last week
because of icy weather.
The
falcon was injured when two West Point students stuffed
her and another bird into dog crates before the rivalry
football game Nov. 3. Aurora bloodied a wing, likely thrashing around in the
crate, before the students turned the birds over.
While
football-game pranks are a
time-honored tradition between military schools, they’ve never
before involved birds. That’s according to the recollection of Lt. Col Don
Rhymer, who runs the falconry. He was “ecstatic” to see how Aurora was
recovering.
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